There Is No Place For Fakes [EN]: Chapter 142

‘Worry about yourself.’

Jeremiah chuckled, looking at his opponent.

“What to do? Philomell is gone.”

Lexion replied casually.

“It’s alright. I can subdue you and then go get her.”

A crease formed on Jeremiah’s smooth forehead.

“Looks like you have something to rely on.”

“I prefer to be overprepared for any situation.”

“You annoying brat.”

“No time for talking. Hurry up and attack.”

“You think it will go your way?”

“Jeremiah, I don’t think you’ve ever won against me in a duel.”

Instead of rising to his brother’s bait, Jeremiah confidently said,

“No, I’m talking about Philomell. She may not seem like it, but she has a strong sense of self.”

“……”

“She’ll never be manipulated by you.”

Even though he had only known his sister for four months, Jeremiah was certain. Lexion seemed to agree, as he didn’t reply.

* * *

“What is this now……”

Philomell, who had stopped running, looked dumbfounded.

“Jeremiah clearly said to run straight.”

However, going straight was impossible. As soon as she turned the corner, a wide corridor appeared, revealing a maze before her.

She touched the wall of the maze.

“It’s mossy.”

Evidence that it hadn’t been maintained for a long time, unlike the walls in other parts of the Magic Tower.

In other words, this maze was a structure that had suddenly appeared.

‘No, it was originally there, but not in this place.’

On her first day in the Magic Tower, Lexion had given Philomell a tour and said:

“If you find any strange buttons, never press them. You never know what might pop out.”

According to him, the Magic Tower had various devices installed to prevent external intrusion.

‘Swords popping out from the walls, or the floor collapsing.’

Old remnants from a time when the Magic Tower faced many hostile forces and war was commonplace. It seemed the maze before her was one of them.

“I thought Lexion was letting me go too easily……”

Philomell stared blankly at the entrance leading into the maze.

There would definitely be an exit. From her perspective, trying to get out, that place was an entrance, but from the perspective of those trying to invade from the outside, it was an exit.

‘My exit is their entrance.’

Logically, a maze created to trap intruders wouldn’t have an obvious entrance.

‘And there’s no need to worry about dangerous traps inside.’

If the intention was to restrain Philomell, there were many easier and simpler methods.

‘Yet the reason he specifically chose a maze is that he doesn’t want to hurt me.’

She looked at the entrance.

She didn’t have any tools to find a shortcut through the maze.

“I have no choice but to go the orthodox way.”

Philomell stepped into the entrance and placed her right hand on one wall. Then, without lifting her hand, she moved along the wall.

Known as the right-hand rule – a typical method for escaping a maze.

Since all the walls are connected, following the wall will eventually lead to the exit.

‘The problem is how long that will take.’

Using the right-hand rule eliminates the risk of going around in circles, but it takes a lot of time since you have to traverse every part of the maze.

‘I can’t waste the opportunity Jeremiah created for me.’

Naturally, her pace quickened. Philomell walked almost as if she was running.

Just as she was getting used to the smell of moss, she finally arrived at the exit.

“I’m here!”

As she exited the maze, the northeast 4th door came into view.

Too much time had passed. Philomell ran towards the door.

Kugugugugung.

At that moment, the ground vibrated with a loud noise from behind, just like before.

The maze shook and began to sink downwards. Before long, the maze completely disappeared, leaving only an ordinary floor.

“It was under the floor.”

It seemed the maze was designed to pop out from the floor in case of emergency. The rumbling she felt when she first confronted Lexion was the phenomenon caused by the maze rising.

In the next moment, Philomell gasped. Lexion was running towards her at an incredible speed.

“Phil! Where are you?”

He shouted, looking around. Due to the veil’s effect, Lexion couldn’t see her.

Philomell retreated into a corner and quietly held her breath.

‘Let’s wait until Lexion leaves this place.’

If Philomell’s figure wasn’t visible, suspicion would inevitably arise. ‘Could she have already gone out the door?’ And naturally, he would want to check outside.

‘Lexion knows about the Veil of Ignorance [an item that makes the wearer invisible], but the more urgent he is, the narrower his vision becomes.’

Right now, the best thing to do is to wait for him to make the wrong decision.

“……Am I too late?”

Lexion muttered, voicing the misunderstanding she had expected, and headed for the door.

However.

“She hasn’t left yet.”

Lexion, who was examining the door, murmured. A very small piece of paper was in his hand.

Philomell soon realized what that piece of paper was.

‘He put that in the gap of the door!’

A device to see if anyone had used the door. If the door was opened even once, the piece of paper would fall to the floor.

Philomell clicked her tongue at his thorough preparation.

“Phil, I know you’re still here. Please, show yourself.”

Lexion said that, but of course, she had no intention of obediently following his words.

‘It’s a shame, but I’ll have to go out through the other door…… Huh?’

Philomell’s eyes widened as she watched Lexion’s movements. Blood was flowing from his forehead. His hair was red, so she couldn’t recognize it from afar.

‘How intense was that brotherly fight!’

She was worried about Jeremiah’s condition, whom she had left behind. If the winner of the fight was in that state, what about the loser?

“Let’s go back together. There’s another way to stop the Evil God without you having to step forward…… Ugh.”

Lexion staggered as if he was dizzy.

Philomell looked back and forth between the path she was going to take and him. Then, she bit her lip and took off the Veil of Ignorance.

Their eyes met.

“Phil…….”

“Show me your wound.”

Philomell rummaged through her bag, looking for a bandage. It was an item from the Starlight Store [a magical shop] that would heal most wounds instantly when applied.

In the process, something fell to the floor with a thud.

“Oops.”

She had accidentally pulled something else out while trying to take out the bandage. A paper bag containing homemade cookies. She had packed them as a snack for the road.

Feeling awkward at Lexion’s gaze as he stared blankly at it, Philomell quickly took out the bandage.

“How did you fight to get your forehead torn like this?”

Philomell scolded him as she applied the bandage to his forehead.

“Jeremiah suddenly swung his sword at my head. I ended it by only breaking one of his legs.”

The brotherly fight was truly brutal.

“Still, Lexion won.”

“You’re 2 years too early to defeat me.”

A faint light emanated from the bandage.

Lexion stared at his sister.

“Judging by your eyes, you haven’t changed your mind about my persuasion.”

“Yes. I’m going.”

“Then why did you show yourself in front of me and heal me? It would be more rational not to.”

“I don’t know why.”

She just felt like she would regret it if she left him like this.

Moreover, to go to the other door, she had to pass Lexion’s bronze statues first. Persuading him here was the best option.

“I’m a bad guy who has been deceiving you all this time, right?”

“That was a bit shocking. But well……. Looking back, I didn’t treat you with a pure heart from the beginning either.”

She needed their help to find out the truth of the book. So she tried to maintain a smooth relationship.

‘I forgot because I was having fun living together.’

Soon, Philomell took off the bandage. His forehead was smooth without a single wound.

“And I don’t actually think Lexion only used me.”

“……Why?”

“You’re still trying to stop me like this. Because you’re worried about my safety.”

“…….”

“Wouldn’t it be more beneficial to send me for the Evil God’s research? You could use me as bait to lure Ieries out.”

“I wouldn’t do such a thing, even if it were me.”

Lexion sighed and rubbed his forehead.

“……What should I say, I’m feeling a sense of futility in my life. My goal was to live comfortably, but my forehead is broken, and I’m fighting with my sister.”

He plopped down on the floor.

“I didn’t see anything here just now.”

“Pardon?”

“Let’s just say that when I arrived, Phil had already left.”

“Lexion!”

“Wait a minute. Take this with you.”

He took something out of his pocket and handed it to Philomell. It was Jeremiah’s transformation necklace.

“It’s something I confiscated from Jeremiah while prohibiting him from going out. It will be helpful in the future. He would want you to have it too.”

Philomell took the necklace and casually asked.

“But why did you suddenly change your mind?”

“It’s unfair to let me do what I want and not let you.”

“What about the research on the Evil God?”

“That’s right.”

“Is there a particular reason why you want to do that research?”

“Hmm……. Not really. I’m just doing it because I want to. I’ve been the type of person who can’t sleep at night if I have something I’m curious about since I was young. And you always want to do things that you’re told not to do, right?”

Looking at Lexion, who was smiling like a mischievous boy, Philomell smiled back. Seeing this side of him, he was undeniably a son of Le Guin.

“Let’s talk about the rest later!”

Philomell opened the door forcefully and went outside.

‘Yeah. Let’s promise to meet again in the future.’

By having conflicts with Le Guin and learning about Lexion’s hidden true feelings, she had come to a definite realization.

Philomell and they had become too close too quickly. They hadn’t properly gone through the stages of becoming a family.

‘Le Guin and Lexion tried their best to match my mood, and I wanted to show them only my good side.’

In fact, she was lonely. She wanted a family. She had never felt the Emperor as her family.

In a way, the current situation was inevitable. Even with the Emperor, whom she had been with for over a decade, she couldn’t guess what they were thinking.

‘There’s no way we, who have only known each other for four months, can know each other well.’

But that doesn’t mean that their relationship built up until now is a lie or a waste of effort.

At that moment, the magicians standing guard around the Magic Tower came into Philomell’s view.

“Was there anything unusual on that side?”

“No.”

“Then it’s time to check the other side.”

She passed them without being detected thanks to the veil’s effect. She entered the forest path as Lexion had told her. A shortcut to Angelium.

“Ah!”

But the moment she took a step forward, Philomell’s body swayed. The dirt floor felt squishy.

The floor soared upwards and raised its body. It wasn’t the floor.

A giant snake erased its soil-colored camouflage and revealed its true form.

“Basilisk!”

The high-level monster tamed by Le Guin, Basilisk.